River Phoenix was reportedly embarrassed by his role in this film, as it marketed him as a teen heartthrob. Phoenix wanted to be taken more seriously as an actor, not a celebrity.
The movies narration was originally performed by director William Richert. 20th Century Fox decided the movie would be better geared towards a teen audience, and Richert's narration sounded 'too grandfather like'. After much debating with Richert, River Phoenix was brought back over a year after the film wrapped to record the narration that would replace that of Richert in the final cut.
River Phoenix's parents asked director William Richert to remove a line by Ann Magnuson in which she says to Phoenix: "Jimmy, I want to fuck you". They feared that the line would negatively affect their 16-year-old son's relationship with his young fan base. Richert refused to remove the line completely, but muted it for the film's theatrical cut.
According to director William Richert, it was all River Phoenix's idea to pull the bed sheet over his face so all you could see was his lips moving. Richert called Phoenix the most gifted and inquisitive actor he's ever worked with due to his habit of asking questions while shooting such as, "Should l try this?" or "ls this what you want?"